News Roundup: Dabur Closing In On Turkish Buy

IL&FS To Sell Stake For $400M – Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS), the holding company for IL&FS group’s infrastructure investments, is close to signing a share sale agreement with investors to raise around $400 million (Rs1,892 crore) by selling an 8% stake. Some of the shares to be sold will come from employees, who will get more than a 10-fold return on the investment made in 2000. The firm will sell stake to two investors, including US financial services company Bay Capital. (Mint)Dabur Closing In On Turkish Buy ” Dabur India is in advanced talks to buy Turkish personal care company Hobi Kozmetik in what will be its first overseas acquisition. Dabur may acquire Hobi Kozmetik for around Rs 300 crore. Hobi Kozmetik is a 35 year old company in Turkey and is one of the market leaders in baby and body care products with an estimated sales of around Rs 100 crore. (NDTV Profit)DLF Brands To Sell Majority Stake – DLF, the country’s largest property developer, today announced plans to dilute majority stake in its wholly-owned retail management subsidiary, DLF Brands, probably to a promoter group company. DBL would issue the equity shares to a promoter group company or any other strategic investor. (Business Standard)Ruias To Make Ssangyong Bid By Aug 10 ” The Ruia Group, which controls tyre makers Dunlop Ltd and Falcon Tyres, plans to bid for troubled South Korean automobile manufacturer Ssangyong Motor by August 10. Ssangyong Motor, which counts Barclays Bank among its top shareholders, has a market value of $409 million. (Reuters Via DNA)FIIs Buy Stake In REI Agro – A clutch of leading foreign funds led by private equity fund Blackstone has picked up close to 15% in basmati exporter REI Agro for around Rs 300 crore. These funds bought? company’s rights shares renounced by the existing shareholders unwilling to subscribe. Apart from Blackstone, London-based hedge fund Moore Capital and Boston-headquartered Wellington Management have also invested. (Economic Times)

GE India CEO Joins PE Firm Lumis ” Scott R Bayman, the man who built GE’s business in India as its president and CEO for 14 years, has joined Lumis Capital ” a Delhi-based private equity fund set up by former GE alumni. The open-ended fund is focused on health care, education and supply chain and has invested around $50 million in a handful of companies. (ET)Thermax Forms Power JVs ” Thermax, the energy and environment solutions major, has formed joint ventures with two global players to enter into the power sector. The first JV has been formed with Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) of the US for making supercritical boilers over 600-800 mw and for subcritical boilers above 300 mw. The second JV is with another US company SPX Energy Technologies to supply equipment and services to the Indian power sector. The company has also planned for a capex of Rs 500 crore for new plants. (Financial Express)Banks Find Bharti Debt A Hard Sell ” Banks that syndicated a $7.5 billion loan to Bharti Airtel Ltd to fund its acquisition of the African business of the Zain Group are finding it difficult to sell the debt to other banks at a profit. The cost of the loan rose after rating agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) downgraded Bharti Airtel’s long-term debt rating in June to BB+ from BBB-. (Mint) INVESTING CONTRARIAN Link:
News Roundup: Dabur Closing In On Turkish Buy